venerdì 25 marzo 2016

Abd el Rahman el Khatib (1922-2013) was an Egyptian musician, vocalist and Oud player. He moved temporarily to Sweden to study, but will remain permanently in the Scandinavian region by taking the music teaching career. The first opportunity to make known his art will be given by the Swedish record label "Frikyrkliga Studieförbundet" which will publish in 1966 a 7 "credited to his name entitled" Det Som Later Musik ". The album, recorded with the help of two Swedish musicians (Björn Lindh on flute and Bengt-Olov Palmqvist on percussion), has 5 tracks belonging to the Arab musical tradition performed canonically, without major innovations.

The meeting, in the early '70s, with Swedish prog-rock group Solar Plexus will enable Abd el Rahman el Khatib, who has since taken the art name of Abdo , the realization of a very special album. Titled "Salma", published in its first edition in 1073 by the label Odeon under license EMI , the album consists of five long tracks in which blend jazz rock, Arabic music, funk and choral symphonies.

If the merger of Western sounds (such as progressive rock on this album represented by the Solar Plexus Group) with typically middle eastern harmonies was not so unusual in the course of the 70s, this work is characterized by the insertion of classical choral harmonies performed by The Choir of The Large Choral Society Södertälje, Södertälje The Chamber Choir and The Östertälje Intermediate School Choir.

Among the most successful songs include undoubtedly the classic "Ah ya zen" which with its 17 minutes provides a perfect cross-section of musical possibilities of this strange formation and the song "The Oriental Express Train", an original composition of Abd el Rahman el Khatib which offers a new way of interpreting classical Arabic song.

Reprinted by the French label Pathé Marconi in 1974 with a different cover, the disc will become over the years a collector's item.